The present invention relates to chewing gum, and more particularly relates to filled chewing gum pieces and to devices and methods for making such filled chewing gum pieces.
Filled chewing gum pieces of various shapes have been developed and sold for many years by the assignee of the present application as well as others. A filled chewing gum piece has an internal cavity that is filled with either a liquid filling or a powder filling. The filled gum pieces are typically coated with a hard outer coating or shell. The assignee has sold liquid-filled gum pieces of generally “lemon-shaped” configuration, as well as powder-filled gum pieces of generally “lentil-shaped” configuration and powder-filled gum pieces of round tablet form sometimes referred to as “dragees”.
Such filled gum pieces have rapidly gained in popularity in recent years, owing in part to the novel taste experiences such gum pieces make possible.